<<Judging from some of the descriptions in recent books, the new natural
history museum has tended to become less a temple celebrating human mastery
than a spectacle that humans must gaze at as insignificant interlopers. Is
it possible that this has encouraged the new emphasis on "edutainment," with
the proliferation of gift shops and cafeterias and interactive exhibits?
These provide the only habitats where a visitor can feel any power or
self-importance in a museum-universe stripped of divinity and
anthropocentricity. At best, the outcome is humility; at worst, it is self-
loathing... >>
Wow...thats all I can say, is wow. I mean, whoever presumes that humans are
the "masters" of this world are gravely mistaken. If the AMNH has decreased
it's anthropocentric view, I applaud it! Journalists like this should be
released into the African jungle to fend for themselves, and then wonder
about human mastery of the world.
Regards,
Randall I.